Philosophy of mind has for at least the past several decades been understood to be focused on two core questions: (a) the nature of consciousness and (b) the nature of mental representation. There are, however, other sets of question about the mind that concern how we can improve or emend our understanding, rightly reason. Discussions of these questions appreciate that the agency of reasoning subsists alongside habit formation, and that cultivating both reason and proper habits or virtues is important not only for each of us as individuals but also for the well-functioning of human society. In this talk, I will propose a course module on 17th century philosophy of mind understood through a concern with education or the improvement of human understanding. This course module will include familiar canonical figures such as Descartes, Spinoza and Locke, and situate them alongside Marie le Jars de Gournay, François Poulain de la Barre, Madame de Maintenon, and Mary Astell.